[Nhcoll-l] FW: making the case for natural history collections and their wider benefit to society and the environment

[Monfils, Anna Kirsten]

Oops have to correct a typo, "In the case of herbaria, small collections represent 83% of the collections but only 13% of the specimens listed in Index Herbariorum (IH), but the educational institutions that support small herbaria educate the majority of students (> 65% of students attending institutions listed in IH).” I can’t let that error stand.

Anna

From: <Monfils>, Anna Monfils <monfi1ak at cmich.edu<mailto:monfi1ak at cmich.edu>>
Date: Friday, January 22, 2016 at 10:37 AM
To: "Schindel, David" <schindeld at si.edu<mailto:schindeld at si.edu>>, Andrew Bentley <abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>>, "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] FW: making the case for natural history collections and their wider benefit to society and the environment

Hi All,

This is a great conversation and some interesting points have been made. This document is an outstanding document promoting museums and the importance of museums in connecting the public with natural history. I would agree with David that the argument for the collections themselves, while addressed, is not the emphasis. As a curator of a small collection, one that is not affiliated with a museum or public space, I would agree we need stronger advocacy for the collections (and small collections) with the funders and the public. In the case of small herbaria, I think this need can be even more pronounced.

I would make the argument that we need to focus more on how small collections can make the connection to the public and funders, since small collections have a unique potential to influence public opinions about collections. In the educational capacity, small collections play a very important role in educating future policy makers, funders and scientists. In the case of herbaria, small NHCs may represent only 17% of the collections and 13% of the specimens listed in Index Herbariorum (IH), but the educational institutions that support small herbaria educate the majority of students (> 65% of students attending institutions listed in IH).   In answer to David’s query, small collections can make the connection to funders and policy makers through students and student outreach. This means creating and using educational modules where students interact with the collection, digital data and the larger collection community. There is something about the specimen itself, the place-based  educational opportunity to learn about specimen based science, and the ability to practice science in a collection, that can uniquely attract and educate students. Natural history collections and the associated digitized data has a unique potential to educate about natural history, the process of science, how scientist communicate, importance of vouchers and documentation, data literacy, and the value of large scale, integrated data sets in answering questions of global concern. This is a bottom up approach, if we get them early, before they question the value of collections and instead just have them use the vast resource of natural collection data, they will be “natural" advocates.

Whew…I’ll put my soap box away.

Anna



From: <Schindel>, David <schindeld at si.edu<mailto:schindeld at si.edu>>
Date: Friday, January 22, 2016 at 7:51 AM
To: Andrew Bentley <abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>>, "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] FW: making the case for natural history collections and their wider benefit to society and the environment

Hi, Andy,

In reading this very attractive document, I was struck by the ABSENCE of an argument for collections.  Rather, the document advocates for museums and their role in raising public awareness.  No question that they are important for public awareness of Nature, extinction, environmental change, but I found no connection to collections.  In fact, other than mentioning the total number of specimens in the region’s museums and two page that describe what the collections contain and what goes on ‘behind the exhibits’ there’s no focus on the use of collections or their relevance to the public education mission.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t be advocating for museums as centers of education, advocacy and infotainment.  That being said, based on the text alone (setting aside what we all know and believe), a general reader might ask why good museum space is being used for collections rather than public exhibits, since the collections don’t seem important for exhibits and education.  I can imagine that this is a question that many smaller regional and local museums must answer.  It would be very interesting to hear ideas from people in smaller museums on how they make this connection to the collections for the public and funders.

David

From:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Bentley, Andrew Charles
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 4:32 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] FW: making the case for natural history collections and their wider benefit to society and the environment

This may be interesting to those folks looking at advocating for collections in various scenarios…

Andy

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Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
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1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
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USA

Tel: (785) 864-3863
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From: The Natural Science Collections Association discussion list <NATSCA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:NATSCA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>> on behalf of Henry Mcghie <henry.mcghie at MANCHESTER.AC.UK<mailto:henry.mcghie at MANCHESTER.AC.UK>>
Reply-To: The Natural Science Collections Association discussion list <NATSCA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:NATSCA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>>
Date: Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 9:34 AM
To: "NATSCA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:NATSCA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>" <NATSCA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:NATSCA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>>
Subject: making the case for natural history collections and their wider benefit to society and the environment

Hello- one of the things we have worked on in the North West is making a credible case for the value of natural history collections, in terms of the benefits they bring to people, society and the wider environment. This work was developed into an advocacy document which we have had it developed into a PDF, reformatted for printing/viewing on screen.

The arguments are tailored towards those working with policy and strategy (NGOs, societies, schools, PHE, HE and FE etc etc) rather than primarily for public consumption, hence the emphasis on ‘need’ messages rather than ‘love’/’feel’ messages. Although some of the content is specific to the North West, much of it is not; the PDF includes additional statistics not included in the hard copy.

You’re welcome to make use of this and to distribute it further, and please do send it round your networks. The work was developed with funding from Museum Development North West as part of a package of activities to support NW museums, collections and museum staff.

If you want to discuss this further, or if this sparks off ideas for possible collaboration, then feel free to get in touch. Any feedback is welcome.
Yours,
Henry
Henry McGhie BSc MA AMA | Head of Collections and Curator of Zoology (Honorary Scientific Associate, Faculty of Life Sciences) | Manchester Museum | The University of Manchester | Oxford Road | Manchester | M13 9PL |  0161 275 2482 | www.manchester.ac.uk/museum<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.manchester.ac.uk_museum&d=AwMGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=FjUZzZhOK8juKxXcQiXooH1gxTmII4hT1okAizDZLwA&s=vaQAarolUSJfD8Mql8YVBLDFTAi4bxMeeNP9IOE6MfQ&e=> | www.facebook.com/ManchesterMuseum<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.facebook.com_ManchesterMuseum&d=AwMGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=FjUZzZhOK8juKxXcQiXooH1gxTmII4hT1okAizDZLwA&s=7G_-TxOU08D3ZvpzfprtfPz_bMTqfq8ZtB9GGbsbgRI&e=> | Follow us on Twitter @McrMuseum

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Exhibitions: The Study, Opens 11 Sept / The Phantoms of Congo River, 11 Sept-10 Apr / Gifts for the Gods: Animal Mummies Revealed,8 Oct-17 Apr

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